After detroyers and corvettes this time. I will build something bigger.
I don’t want to steal the show of @Carves. There are so many brilliant Admiral Graf Spee models out there, so I want to try something different which will also satisfy my need for butchery after building my little corvette out of the box.
The reason why I choose Admiral Scheer is that she was the German warship (except Submarines and Auxiliary Cruisers) getting round furthest. From the Indian Ocean to the Kara Sea in the Arctic Sea. In addition she had comparably little losses of crew during the war years. Thats why she was called “lucky”
Admiral Scheer was a sister of Admiral Graf Spee and in her early life quite similar with the same bridge. I will explain the differences in the further process. At the beginning of the war Admiral Scheer got a major refit during which the bridge tower was reduced and replaced with a heavy mast.
Unfortunately there are not many good drawings or photos of her in this configuration which changed during the war further due to the addition of more AA.
I will use the Trumpeter Admiral Graf Spee with the Very Fire Detail set and maybe add some AA as required.
The Trumpeter hull is a nice starting point. I just do not like the split in the waterline.I will have to remove the external armor and modifiy the bulges a bit before sculpting a new Atlantic Bow.
This part need to be sanded off. In Scheer the armour was nearly flush with the hull and the lower part anyway covered by the bulge. In Graf Spee the armour is more visible.
@ Russel: Thanks Russel, not sure myself. I have an idea but the sources are a bit spurious. I can only continue this weekend.
@ Carves: You are definitely better in washes and probably better in weathering
@Robin: Thanks, I saw this discussion. However I do not know on what the drawings are based. Theyare for showing arrangement and camouflage and were never intended to show the lines of the vessel perfectly.
In the german literature (Koop & Schmolke) is mentioned that the upper frames were converted to have more flare from frame 112 forward. I cannot find a numbered frame plan up to now. However from my estimation frame 112 is much too far aft (in the area of the bridge). If anybody has a Frame Plan for Scheer or Graf Spee I would be happy to see. I think its a typo.
There was a modelling plan for Scheer, but it is unfortunately not available any more.
The other point is purely modelling. If I convert the bow back to e.g. the turret, my wooden deck would not fit anymore because to narrow. So it will be a compromise at the end.
You are in sticky situation here, that’s for sure.
You can’t add length without adding to the width, if the additional width isn’t added far enough back from the bow there will be an odd ‘kink’ in the hull sides.
Somewhere around the front of the bridge is approximately where the addition of width needs to start to be able to get smooth hull lines.
Maybe constructing a new wooden deck would be possible?
You’re up to quiet a task there - but a great project that I dreamed of quite a couple of times.
I’ll see if my german books can be of any help. From your conversion of the bow shape, looking at the timelines, you must be looking at the complete conversion of the bridge “pyramidal” shape to the sleeker turret style shape?
Scheer is one of my favorites, along with Hipper, and I’ll see what I can find to support - and of course, I’m in!
@ Robin: I think I can fair-in the slightly widened bow without a kink. I just need to think about the wooden deck. I will see on the weekend what i can do.
@ JJ1973 Yes, I will do her in 1942 or 1943 stage, maybe during Operation Wunderland with the 2 or 3 colour camouflage. IN my opinion she is looking best in this configuration. I will try to build the tower mast myself in a similar way the real ship was converted. I saw the the complete bridge and funnel with cap can be ordered from Shapeways, but i prefer to built everything myself
I tried to find the “Gally” plan which is in 1:100 and said to be the best, but cannot find it anywhere. Most plans I have are actually for Lützow and not very large. For some reason Scheer is less well documented in her later stage than e.g. Hipper.
If I could find a frame plan of Graf spee I could at least check if the frames really were changed forward of 112.
The AA outfit at a certain time is also a bit guesswork, but I like the research…
Operation Wunderland she is looking best, I’d agree. I wish you best of luck for those massive changes you’ll have to do. Right now I’m away from my library, but as promised, I’ll see what I can find to be helpful.
@ Russel: thanks, for your link. At the end i will improvise and make it look ok. There must be plans in our national archives, but a bit difficult to get
@ Jan: Fully understand. I have the same problem, only manage some quality building time on the weekends
Oddly Tom, I’ve found the Bundesarchiv easy to deal with (even being in Australia) the only drawback, is that you’d need to go there in person to examine the item you’d need, even though they may be able to help you identify and locate the item of interest remotely.
So yes, absolutely, if it were me, I’d go with the TLAR approach: “That looks about right” As no-one else will be able to say otherwise either
(Although, if you did find the right drawing at the archives, you could possibly be the only person in the world to have a 100% accurate model )
Tom good luck finding the plans, unfortunately I can’t help.
Regarding the wood deck, one of companies does a sheet of decking can’t remember who off the top of my head but definitely remember see it. I’ll have a look around and see if I can remember who.
Sorry for late reply, had some problems with my computer.
@Russele: TLAR is what i am going to do. I do not know if the rest of the hull is 100% correct so what. My shaping will be an educated guess and proof me wrong
@ LIttorio. Thank you for the tip, I actually have both of them. They both look different and different from the Very Fire Deck. But no problem, I will just cut it by scissor to the right shape, Its not THAT much different.
Update: lot of sanding, puttying, sanding again. I cut the stem with a fine saw and put a piece of PE fret inside. By this way i can get an extremely sharp stem and kan keep the profile when sending du to the harder material. For the larger flare of the frames i simply add 1mm square profiles and fair them as goo as possible. The rest is just a bit putty. The increased flare begins in the area of the turret A. Thats my guesstimate
The hull is really nice (for Graf Spee) but this is one of these unnecessary mistakes.
Over christmas i try to finish the hull. Need to cut our the new open anchor pockets for the bow anchors and attach the profiles for the demagnetisation (?) cables.
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